Recognition of Slow Thinking in the Slow Revolution

It is great to be noted by Carl Honoré at Slow Planet.

Carl Honoré: First impressions, and the next step….

We’ve already heard from Slow initiatives that weren’t even on our radar before. For instance, I love the sound of these Slow Thinking events in New Zealand.

Carl’s website leads with a good clarification of ‘slow’:

Slow is not about doing everything at a snail’s pace; it’s about working, playing and living better by doing everything at the right speed.

This applies as much to thinking as to other aspects of life. The genious of the Slow Thinking Movement is that we use a simple way of getting people together to help each other think better by thinking at the right speed.

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David Suzuki on Slow Thinking

Dr David Suzuki has written recently on the need for revaluing time in our thinking. He reflects on the “cacophony of demands for attention” assaulting us.

… perhaps it’s time we revisit this obsession with speed. Never before has there been a greater need for some heavy thinking before action.

Suzuki comments on the role of technology and the media in seeming to diminish or eliminate the role of time in nature and processes; “we’ve edited out the most important aspect of the ecosystem: Time.”

It’s time we reconsider the role of time in our decisions and our technologies. Maybe we all need to slow down, take time to read, think, exchange ideas and deliberate questions of who we are, where we come from, where we are heading and what life is all about. If not now, when?

The slow thinking approach is one attempt to promote the kind of exchange, questioning, and thinking that Suzuki may be suggesting. By providing a simple structure for people to bring together their ideas and experience with enough time and with a commitment to mutually exploring, examining and developing thinking, slow thinking offers an antidote to the ‘once over lightly,’ sound-bite culture of our society.

Thanks to No Time to Lose for alerting me to the piece by Suzuki.

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slow planet

New site at www.slowplanet.com. Carl Honore creating a hub for slow travel, slow design, slow sport (almost seems contradictory, but I remember enjoying a slow game of croquet at times…), and slow work. All very new and fresh but worth monitoring.

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